Originally appeared in the December 1938 issue of the National Geographic Magazine
This Web version COPYRIGHT 2004
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AVICULTURE IS POPULAR IN BIRD-LOVING
ENGLAND While aviculture is rapidly spreading in America, it probably has more devotees in England than elsewhere in the world at present. In any home in London it is common to see a large aviary cage or two, with from one to a dozen birds, and in country establishments aviaries of varying size are the regular accompaniment of the other interests that pertain to life. Such aviaries may range from a flight or two to extensive parks like that of my friend Mr. Alfred Ezra at Foxwarren Park, in Surrey, where last May, among scores of smaller birds, I saw such rare species as the pink-headed duck from India, a pair of Stanley cranes with a nest and young, and great sarus cranes at freedom flying with trumpet calls over the meadows.
"SOFT-BILLS" NEED EXTRA CARE The soft-bills are found in the hands of those who have more leisure and who often become highly expert in the handling and carc of difficult and unusual species. A common food palatable to many soft-bills is manufactured from bread crumbs to which grated hard-boiled egg, dried beef heart, grated carrot, cottage cheese, dried insect preparations, and various other in- gredients are added according to the needs of the birds concerned. Many soft-billed species subsist largely on fruits. These statements are not a formula for the preparation of a standard food for aviary use, but are merely an indication of the types required for different kinds of birds. The details of the proper prepara- tion of soft foods are available in standard treatises on aviculture, which contain also information regarding the care of cages, the handling and breeding of birds, diseases, and the many other details that confront the bird keeper. Bird and pet stores, with their interesting displays, are familiar to most of us, and some may have seen the larger establishments of wholesale dealers, where hundreds of canaries sing happily in little individual wicker cages, or scores of weaver birds and other small species live in fluttering confusion in larger quarters. A more unusual sight is one of the bird markets of tropical America.
BRILLIANT TROPICAL BIRDS FOR SALE In the cages were brilliant little tanagers dressed in yellow, gold, green, and blue. blue honey creepers, others with yellow breasts, an occasional cardinal from the desert area about Barquisimeto, native meadowlarks from the fields near Maracav. red siskins, others dressed in yellow and black, troupials, large light-gray mockingbirds, euphonias, saffron finches, a few hummingbirds, and, of course, canaries, all feeding, preening, and fluttering about, calling and even singing amid all the busy confusion of the city. Residents and visitors paused frequently to admire the birds or to inquire a price. Every home that I entered in the city had httle aviaries standing in the patio, or small cages with birds hung in a window. And I was continually attracted by strange bird notes, to find that they came from a captive of some species rare in zoological gardens in the north, or one that I had not seen in life before. From such sources in foreign countries dealers obtain the birds that become established in our homes and zoos. |
